12th Man+ Done, Chip Kelly's Realignment Vision, + ICYMI & More | NIL Newsletter #173
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Major News
Texas A&M Discontinues 12th Man+ Fund
As a result of the IRS memo released in June surrounding non-profit NIL collectives, Texas A&M announced that they would be discontinuing the 12th Man+ Fund.
“Following consultation with external advisors, the 12th Man Foundation is altering its approach to NIL which includes discontinuing the 12th Man+ Fund. This decision was made to ensure the 12th Man Foundation meets its high standards for compliance and to protect the organization’s mission. This decision does not prevent the 12th Man Foundation from supporting NIL opportunities for Aggie student-athletes. As part of its altered approach, the organization plans to support NIL opportunities for Aggie student-athletes by expanding its marketing outreach using unrestricted annual fund contributions.”
The 12th Man+ Fund was initially intended to consolidate Texas A&M’s fundraising efforts into one group, with both NIL and general Athletic Department contributions under one umbrella.
The full announcement is available HERE.
Chip Kelly Suggests Following Notre Dame
UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly proposed his own vision for future conference realignment in a press conference earlier this week.
“Notre Dame is an independent in football, but they’re in a conference for everything else,” Kelly said. “Why aren’t we all independent for football? Take the 64 teams in Power Five and make that one division, take the 64 teams in Group of Five, make that another division. We play for a championship, they play for a championship and no one else gets affected.”
College Football in particular is moving towards professional status at a faster rate than other sports, something Kelly also mentioned: “Our sport’s different than everybody else — we only play once a week, travel’s not a big deal for football, but it is a big deal for other sports.”
More on Kelly’s comments is available HERE.
For Athletes
LSU Quarterback Jayden Daniels signed an NIL deal with Raising Cane’s, the popular chicken finger chain based in Baton Rouge. He joins LSU Women’s Basketball’s Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson as LSU student-athletes with deals with Raising Canes. LINK
For Admins
Arizona State Head Football Coach Kenny Dillingham shared that between 75-80% of the recruiting pitch for most student-athletes focuses on NIL.
He also shared his gratitude for Charles Lawrence, a notable Arizona State booster who pledged $1 million towards the “Activate the Valley” NIL plan at Dillingham’s introductory press conference: “You can put that in every single streaming media you want. Lawrence built our football team. Because of what he did the first day I got hired. We would not have a team. Point blank, zero, we would not have a football team without Lawrence”
ICYMI
Michigan announced the Champions Circle as the first NIL collective to become an official partner of Michigan Athletics. LINK
Iowa State is launching 1858 Vodka in partnership with the We Will Collective. LINK
The Pitt-focused Alliance 412 announced the addition of Oakland Originals, which will assist Pitt student-athletes in elevating their personal brands. LINK
ESPN is partnering with PENN entertainment to launch ESPN BET. LINK
Have you checked out OSC’s website?
Head to www.OptimumSportsConsulting.com to find important resources and features relating to all things NIL. These resources include State by State Resources for Admins, Agents and Athletes, including our initial “OSC Summaries” for over a dozen states coming soon.
More to come too, including links to helpful state information- agency laws and information about school policies, as well as seminar/congressional notes, worksheets, and much more!